Ash-conveying system



Patented Nov. 2', 1920;

UNITED STATES PATENT orricn.

ARTHUR P. STRONG, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A SS'IGNOR TO GREEN ENGINEERINGCOMPANY, OF EAST CHICAGO, INDIANA, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

ASH-CONVEYING SYSTEM.

Application filed March 21, 1918. Serial No. 223,691.

To all to 7mm it may concern Be it known that I, ARTHUR P. STRONG, acitizen of the United States, residin at Chicago, in the county of Cookand @tate of Illinois, have invented new and useful Improvements inAsh-Conveying Systems, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to conveying sys tems for abrasive materials suchas ashes and the like.

Conveying systems of the kind mentioned comprise a pipe line built of aplurality of metal pipes joined end to end and forming a conduit throughwhich the ashes or like abrasive materials are moved pneumatically, asfor instance by means of a current produced by jets of steam beingdischarged into the pipe line at several places in its length. Suchsystems when installed usually comprise connected vertical andhorizontal and even oblique lengths of pipe, thereby making it necessaryto use elbow or like fittings at the sharp bends or turns in the pipeline. The elbows in particular are subjected to an excessive or unequalde gree of wear, resulting from the increased. abrasive action of thematerial which must necessarily occur where the direction of flow of thematerial is abruptly altered. To relieve that portion of the innersurface of the elbow of such excessive abrasive action, it is now thegeneral practice to cover such surface with a removable wearing backwhich is usually made of a metal of such hardness capable ofwithstanding such excessive abrasive action longer than could therelatively softer material of which the elbow is made. Up to the presenttime it has not been possible to make wearing backs which will withstandsuch excessive abrasive action for any protracted length of time, norhas it been possible to make wearing backs which will wear to the samedegree even under the same conditions, thereby making the maintenancecost of the system vary considerably from time to time. Wearing backs asnow made wear out very quickly in the operation of the system, and aftersome service the ash concentrates more or less on one spot on the innersurface of the wearing back, with the result that the back is wornthrough in that spot before any other portion of the back is wornthrough. As soon as this happens, the por- Specification of LettersPatent.

Patented Nov. 2, 1920.

tion of the elbow casing directly over the wearing back is subjected toan abrasive action of the material flowing thereagainst through the holeworn in the back, and as the elbow casing is made of relatively softmetal, it follows that a hole is worn very quickly in the elbow casing,causing the ash to be blown out of the pipe line through said hole. Fromthis it follows that it is necessary to replace both the worn back andeither the entire elbow or only the damaged part thereof, which ineither case is an item of expense. Laborers emploved about ash conveyingsystems of this kind are as a general rule unskilled and possessing alow intelligence they never thlnk of inspect ing the wearing backs untilthere is some sign given from the. outside of the pipe line and this bythe outer casing of an elbow being blown through, and then it is toolate to prevent damage being done to the latter.

It is among the objects of my invention to overcome the difficultiesnoted, and to accomplish this I provide a construction of such a natureadapted to hold a packing of ash in place over the outside of and incontact with a wearing back, so that when a hole is worn through thewearing back such hole will be covered on the outside thereof by an ashpack, which will prevent the ash current from flowing through such holeand cause the ash in the current to pack in the hole and fill it up soas to prevent further aggravated wear of the back in such hole.

Manifestly with my invention the outer casing of the pipe fitting orelbow will not be damaged when. a hole is worn through the wearing back,so that only the wearing back need be replaced when worn, and not at thesame time the pipe fitting. In filling up such hole and preventingfurther immediate wear therein, the life of the wearing back isprolonged, as is apparent. Then again, said ash packing serves as acushion to the shock to which the back is usually subjected in thecontact of the ash therewith during the operation of the system.

The invention consists further in the matters hereinafter described andmore par-.

ticularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings I Figure 1 is a. vertical sectional view ofa pipe fitting constructed in accordance with 60 v the flow of the ashthrough the pipe line is my invention and being taken on line 11 of Fig.2;

Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view taken on the indirect line 2-2 ofFig. 1; and

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view illustrating how the ash in theash current packs in and fills up the hole when first worn in thewearing back when backed by an ash packing in accordance with myinvention.

In the drawings, I have shown that part of an ash conveying or likesystem wherein one of the pipes 10 of the horizontal run of the pipeline is connected with the adjacent pipe 11 of a vertical or upright runof said pipe line by means of an elbow 12 interposed between said pipesand connected therewith by suitable clamping means,such as in the formof clamping bolts 13, 13, as shown. Located within said elbow 12 is aremovable wearing back '14: of the type shown and forming substantiallyone-half of the conduit through the elbow and constituting that portionthereof which is subjected to the excessive abrasive action of thematerial flowing through the elbow; Said elbow 12 is cut away to receivethe wearing back 141, as shown, and secured to the elbow over thewearing back is a hollow casing 15 preferably comprising upright sideand end walls 16, 17, respectively, and a top wall or cover 18 removablyconnected with the side walls of the casing by suitable clamping means,preferably in the form of clamp, bolts 19, 19 inserted through themargin of the cover and an outwardly extending marginal flange 20provided on the upright walls of the casing for that purpose. The loweredges of said side walls 16 rest on side flanges 21 provided on theelbow 12. Each side wall 16 is provided adjacent its lower edge with anoutwardly extending flange 22, located above the flange 21 so that clampbolts 23 may be inserted through said flange for securing the casing 15to the pipe section 12, as shown in Fig. 2. In the constructionillustrated, the end walls 17, 17 bear against suitable portions 24provided on the pipe section 12 for that purpose. It will be noted thatthe wearing backlet forms the inner or bottom wall of the casing 15.When said casing is applied to the pipe section 12 in the mannerdescribed and shown, the cover 18 is removed and the casing filled withashes or like abrasive material 25 of the same kind which flows throughthe pipe line, and after that has been done the cover is re placed andclamped in closed position.

lVhen the parts are in the positions shown in the drawings and thesystem operating,

in the direction shown by the arrow in Fig.

1, and in passing through the" elbow 12 it 7 naturally follows that theash flows around and over the inner curved surface of the wearing back14, with the result that the same is subjected to an excessive andunequal degree of wear due to the increased abrasiveaction of thematerial thereon. The main impingement of the ash is more or lessconcentrated on one spot in the curvature of the inner surface of thewearing back, and it has been found in practice that this spot is withina circle of three to four' inches in diameter. The result is that theboring action of the material on such spot tends to wear through thatportion of the wearing back before any other portion of the same is wornthrough. Manifestly, such spot wears through first, and when it does theash passing through the hole thus formed encounters the packing of ash25 in the easing 15. The result is that there is a resistance to furtherpassage of the ash through the hole, and the ash therefore tends to packin the same, the degree or density of packing tending to be increased asthe ash packsinto said hole. The ash passing through the system is moreor less moistened by the steamused to create the flow, and it followthat the ash packs in the hole until the hole is completely filled, asshown in Fig. 3, wherein such hole is indicated by 26 and the ash packedtherein by 27 It follows, therefore, that the ash builds up on thesurface of the ash already packed in the hole 26 until the same iscompletely filled. In the event such packing process continues to packmore ash than the hole will accommodate so that the pack extends inwardbeyond the inner surface of the wearing back, such excess amount of'ash,by the abrasive action of the material passing thereover, will be wornoff so as to bring the packing in the hole 26 substantially flush withthe inner surface of the wearing back. On the other hand, should ithappen at any time during the operation of the system that the ashpacked in the hole should be less than required to fill the hole, anaccumulation of ash will immediately develop to completely fill theopening. Consequently, the inner surface of the wearing back ismaintained in effect continuous and-unbroken for an appreciable lengthof time and the ash current prevented from quickly wearing out the backafter a hole has been once started, with the result that the life of thewearing necessar Then a ain b orovidiiwas ace between the outer surfaceof the wearing back and the outer casing of the pipe section and packingsuch space with an ash pack, it follows that the outer casing ofthe pipesection is not worn through when a hole has been worn-in the wearingback, with the re- .sult the the casing is notdamaged and thuseliminates replacing or repairing the pipe section when a hole is wornin the wearing back. Manifestly, with myinvention in use the maintenancecost of the pipe line is kept down.

By providing an ash pack 25 behind or on the outside of the wearing back14 in the manner set forth, the wearing back is cushioned againstimpingement or contact of the ash thereagainst in its passage throughthe pipe section 12. This advantage will be readily apparent to thoseskilled in the art to which my invention relates.

Although I have shown and described in detail herein my invention asbeing applied to an elbow fitting of a pipe line of the kind mentioned,yet it is to be of course under stood that my invention may be appliedto any otherpart of the pipe line found desirable. Furthermore, while Ihave shown and described herein a construction embody ing the featuresof my invention, yet it is to be of course understood that the detailsof construction and arrangement of parts illustrated may be variouslychanged and modified without departing from the spirit and scope of myinvention, and I do not wish to be limited to the exact details ofconstruction and arrangement of parts shown, except as pointed out inthe appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. In an ash conveying or like system, a pipe section, a relatively deepbody of ash on the outside of the pipe section against that portion ofthe same subjected to the greatest degree of wear for covering a holewhen worn through said portion from the inside thereof and forpreventing the material conveyed through the pipe section from beingblown through said hole, and means secured to the pipe section on theoutside thereof for holding said body of ash against said portion.

2. In an ash conveying or like system, a

'' wear resisting liner therein, a relatively deep body of ash againstsaid liner on the outside thereof for covering a hole when worn throughsaid liner from the inside thereof and for preventing the materialconveyed through said pipe section from being blown through said hole,and means secured to the pipe section on the outside thereof about saidliner for holding said body of ash against the same.

3. In an ash conveying or like system, an elbow, a removable wearingback therein, a relatively deep body of ash against said wearing back onthe outside thereof for covering a hole when worn through the same fromthe inside thereof and for preventing the material conveyed through saidelbow from being blown through said hole, and means secured to saidelbow on the outside thereof about said wearing back for holding saidbody of ash against the same.

4:. In an ash conveying or like system, a pipe section, a relativelydeep body of ash on the outside of the pipe section against that portionof the same subjected to the greatest degree of wear for covering a holewhen worn through said portion from the inside thereof and forpreventing the material conveyed through said pipe section from beingblown through said hole, and a hollow casing secured to said pipesection on the out side thereof about said portion for holding said bodyof ash against the same. y

5. In an ash conveying or like system, an elbow, a removable wearingback therein, a relatively deep body of ash against said wearing back onthe outside thereof for covering a hole when worn through said wearingback from the inside of the same and for preventing the materialconveyed through said elbow from being blown through said hole, and ahollow casing secured to said elbow on the outside thereof about saidwearing back for holding said body of ash against the same.

6. In an ash conveying or like system, an elbow, a removable wearingback therein, a relatively deep body of ash against said wearing back onthe outside thereof for covering a hole when worn through said wearingback from the inside thereof, and for preventing the material conveyedthrough the elbow from being blown through said hole, and a hollowcasing for bold ing said body of ash against said wearing back, saidcasing having marginal walls secured to said elbow about said wearingback and projecting outward from the same, and a removable cover closingthe outer end of the casing.

'7. In an ash conveying or like system, an elbow having an opening inthe outer wall thereof, a removable wearing back seated in said openingand closing the same, a relatively deep body of ash against said wearingback on the outside thereof and supported by the same for covering ahole when worn through said wearing back from the inside thereof, andfor preventing the material conveyed through said elbow from being blownthrough said hole, and a hollow casing for holding said body of ashagainst said wearing back, said casing having marginal walls secured tosaid elbow about said opening and extending outward therefrom, and aremovable cover closing the outer end of said casing.

8. In an ash conveying or like system, a pipe section, a relatively deepbody of ash on the outside of the pipe section against that portion ofthe same subjected to the greatest degree of wear for covering a holewhen worn through said portion from the inside thereof and for allowingthe hole to pack and substantially fill with the material conveyedthrough the elbow to prevent said material from being blown through saidhole, and means for holding said body of ash against said portion. 1

9. In an ash conveying or like system, an elbow, a removable wearingback therein, a relatively deep body of ash against said wearing back onthe outside thereof for covering a hole when worn through said wearingback from the inside thereof, and for allowing the hole to pack andsubstantially fill with the material conveyed through the elbow toprevent said material from being blown through said hole, and

ARTHUR R STRONG.

Witnesses HRMAN TOWNHAM,

H. R. W LsoN.

